


Shake the Glitter Off (put your money where your mouth is)

by Khashana



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Music, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Podfic and fic together, Waking Up in Vegas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-10 23:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20143753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khashana/pseuds/Khashana
Summary: Kent Parson's history with the Aces' goal song.Or, a love letter to Waking Up in Vegas.





	Shake the Glitter Off (put your money where your mouth is)

Because you know you wanna listen to it:

Or, better yet, [come listen to the podfic](https://khashanakalashtar.wordpress.com/portfolio/shake-the-glitter-off-put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is/)

Like any good millennial, Kent’s phone is on silent 95% of the time, but he still has a custom ringtone because he remembers the good old days when custom ringtones were _a thing_ and he went through the trouble of creating one for his iPhone after the draft and development camp and making the team.

The first time Kent watched an Aces home game, it was on TV, back when they were a brand new team, and so it took three goals before he actually registered what the goal song was, and he laughed because it was _perfect. _

> _Shut up and put your money where your mouth is_
> 
> _That’s what you get for waking up in Vegas_

So when the Aces called his name, it seemed only right.

(It wasn’t the first time he heard it, though. Or why he owned it when it came time to chop it into a ringtone-sized file. Katy is awesome and that song is fucking _baller._)

He’s pulling up to the stoplight on the outskirts of Vegas when he registers that the car already stopped in the lane next to him has its windows down and its music blaring. And then he pulls level and realizes what song it is, and he has to turn and look at who’s driving. It’s a blond twink in a backwards snapback and he’s singing along and Kent’s heart stops.

It wasn’t so long ago that Jack came out on live television and Kent went through that whole freakout before he realized that nobody actually cared about the rumors anymore and only the seediest publications were making insinuations. And then the team got together for karaoke, and Bowls took the list of requests to the DJ, and Kent _asked _for Rob Thomas but Bowls clearly thinks he’s hilarious and when Kent was standing on the stage holding the mic the song started with a crash of cascading coins and Kent went through four stages of gay panic in about two seconds.

_One. _This isn’t my song.

_Two. _What the fuck, why did they pick this, do they know, is this public humiliation?

_Three. _It’s our goal song, it’s just a joke, they don’t even expect me to know the words, even though I know them all.

_Four. _Fuck it.

He rolled his shoulders side to side as he allowed the particular calm of _that song _to roll over him. Took in a deep breath. Let it out. Sang the whole goddamn thing word for word note for note perfect without looking at the screen once.

> _You gotta help me out_
> 
> _It’s all a blur last night_
> 
> _We need a taxi cause you’re hung over_
> 
> _And I’m broke_

When he got back to the table, his teammates all looked as though someone had just told them Gretzky was running for president. Kent just shrugged at them and kind of smiled. He’d been playing up his fictional straightness for long enough already.

Troy was the first one to recover. “Damn, Parser, hidden depths much?” Kent laughed and socked him in the shoulder. Troy punched him back. The rest of the team started laughing and the mood broke.

(He came out to Troy that night and Troy just slung an arm around his shoulder and said, “So, Zimmermann? You’ve got shit taste in men, dude.”)

So it’s a sign, it has to be a sign, but Kent is frozen and he can’t say anything, can’t take the chance, and then Katy and the twink get to the chorus.

> _Don’t be a baby_
> 
> _Remember what you told me_
> 
> _Shut up and put your money where your mouth is_
> 
> _That’s what you get for waking up in Vegas_

And suddenly Kent can talk again and he shouts over the music, “Can I have your number?” The twink looks around and grins at him.

“Sure, sugar, but I don’t have a pen.”

Kent…does.

Kent always has a Sharpie, because fans, and he’s wearing a hat, and a plan comes together in half a second. The twink starts laughing as he whips off the hat and scribbles his number under the brim, then flips it through the open passenger window. The car behind Kent honks and he jumps to realize the light is green and pulls away, but not before he sees the guy retrieve the hat from his passenger seat and plop it on his head.

(Spoiler: Bits calls.)

(Another spoiler: Four months later Kent’s ringer is on so he doesn’t miss a call from the GM about trades, and Bits laughs his goddamn _socks _off.)

> _Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now_
> 
> _That’s what you get for waking up in Vegas_


End file.
